But that’s not the only thing on JetBlue’s Long Beach wish list. The airline also continues to want the rights to add more daily flights out of LGB, one of a handful of airports nationwide with daily departure caps. Long Beach allows 41 daily departures for planes heavier than 75,000 pounds, and JetBlue owns the rights to 32 of those flights.

The basic idea is this: If JetBlue someday gains the ability to fly to Central and South America from Long Beach, it would still want to fly to many of the markets it serves today – like Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco and Salt Lake City. In the right scenario, passengers originating from many of those cities would switch planes in Long Beach and connect to an international flight.

Here’s what could happen. By city rules, Long Beach allows an additional flights 25 daily flights on commuter jets – defined as planes weighing less than 75,000 pounds, such as the CRJ-700 and CRJ-200. JetBlue doesn’t have any planes that light, but it does fly the Embraer ERJ-190, with a maximum takeoff weight of 105,359 pounds, according to the manufacturer. JetBlue would like its E-190s to count in the small jet category, so it can add flights from LGB. (Other airlines are operating far fewer than 25 small jet flights from the airport, so there is available space in the category.)

“The E-190s are a very friendly airplanes,” said Scott Laurence, JetBlue’s vice president for network planning. “They’re quiet. It is very much fits what was intended with those commuter slots.”